Fortunes of Nigerian Railways Corporation reversed in less than two years by RITES

Fortunes of Nigerian Railways Corporation reversed in less than two years by RITES

The fortunes of the Nigerian Railways Corporation have been reversed in less than two years by the Indian management team.

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February 20, 2014

ISSUE DATE: June 15, 1981

UPDATED: October 10, 2014 12:39 IST

Opening Up An Industry

Despite protests from the razor blade cartel, the Industry Ministry has decided to throw open the industry for new licences. The ministry suspects that a substantial portion of the licensed capacity has been pre-empted by the existing manufacturers with a view to keeping a tight hold on the profitable industry.

A number of large business houses are said to be interested in entering the field and some have already lined up well-known international names for technical collaboration. There is also a proposal for setting up a plant for 100 per cent exports but the Government is keen to upgrade the quality of blades for home consumers who have for years literally 'saved their skins' with the imported variety.

Back On The Rails

The fortunes of the Nigerian Railways Corporation have been reversed in less than two years by the Indian management team. Railway India Technical Services (RITES) which took over the management in 1979. In 1978, the year preceding the take-over, the corporation earned 30 million naira (Rs 44.55 crore) as revenue. In 1979 itself earnings rose by 50 per cent to 45.02 million naira (Rs 66.85 crore). This year the corporation expects to increase its revenue by a further 100 per cent with its earnings targeted at 90 million naira (Rs 133.65 crore).

At the same time RITES has carried out an extensive programme for the training and education of Nigerian employees. Over 3,000 Nigerians have undergone training in two years in Nigeria under Indian supervision, while a further 500 have been sent to India for specialised instruction.

Businessmen in Lagos firmly believe that if the RITES contract is allowed to lapse the Nigerian railways will return swiftly to their inefficiency and lassitude which prior to 1979 made them notorious in business circles as an unreliable means of transport.

Diversifying Into Detergents

Colgate-Palmolive, which made history this year by declaring a dividend of 101 percent, is diversifying into synthetic detergents and toilet soaps. It is setting up a plant in Udaipur (Rajasthan) for making synthetic detergents, with an annual capacity of 10,000 tonnes a year and another plant at Ankleshwar (Gujarat) for the manufacture of 12,000 tonnes of toilet soap a year.

The company has 55 per cent share of the toothpaste market and though it is doing very well, it has decided to raise toothpaste prices by 5 to 6 per cent, in line with other multinational companies including Hindustan Lever and Geoffrey Manners. The company has also proposed a bonus on 1 for 1 basis which at one time raised its Rs 10 paid-up share to 180, a near-record.

Remington Takes The Lead

Remington Rand has stolen a march over the state-owned Hindustan Teleprinters and secured a licence to make 15,000 electric typewriters a year despite protests from the Communications Ministry and the Bureau of Public Enterprises.

Hindustan Teleprinters was the first in the field with a licence obtained as long ago as 1974 but it has produced only 800 typewriters of indifferent quality and has been looking for a reliable foreign collaborator. Remington has in the meantime jumped into the fray with its own licence and a possible technical collaboration with Adler. Hindustan Teleprinters is apparently in two minds and may go in for electronic typewriters which are not only less cumbersome than the electric ones but also less expensive.

Small Is Successful

Do companies belonging to big business houses grow faster than others? Not necessarily, according to the latest line-up of top 100 companies published by the Economic Times. Of the top 10 fastest growing companies (in terms of assets) only three belong to big business groups - Mukand lron (Bajaj), Raymond Wool (JK) and Telco (Tata) and they are ranked Nos 7, 8 and 9 in the tally.

On the other hand, there are three Tata companies among the slowest growing units - Indian Tube, Tata Oil and Tata Finlay. The fastest growing company. Reliance Textiles' assets went up by 83 per cent last year. The slowest growing was EID-Parry whose assets dropped by 13 percent.

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